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Marseille boss Didier Deschamps has dismissed the suggestion that his Inter counterpart Claudio Ranieri will be gunning for revenge when the pair's respective sides clash in the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Deschamps was in charge of the Monaco side that sensationally dumped a Ranieri-led Chelsea out of the tournament at the semi-final stage in 2004.

That defeat cemented then Ranieri's reputation as 'The Tinkerman' and also played an integral role in his subsequent dismissal.

However, Deschamps does not believe that his Italian adversary will be thinking of past battles when the Nerazzurri take to the field at the Stade Velodrome for the first-leg encounter.

"I don't think there's such a thing as revenge in football," the former Juventus coach is quoted as saying by Uefa.com.

"There's history – what happened, happened, and it went well for me, and less well for him – and now it's a new chapter.

"I think from my side, and from his too, there's lots of respect, but it's not Ranieri versus Deschamps. It's really about Marseille against Inter."

With Inter currently struggling in Serie A, Ranieri has more important things to be worrying about at the moment.

However, despite the Nerazzurri's poor form of late, Deschamps still believes that the 2010 Champions League winners remain a formidable opposition.

"We're not in the same category as them, but we still have a chance to qualify," he mused.

"Inter are one of the seven or eight big European clubs whose objective is to be European champions.

"Our aim was to get to the last 16 in the winter, and then if we got further, we'd have exceeded our ambitions."

Marseille, who are currently fourth in Ligue 1, will travel to San Siro for the second leg on March 13.

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